New City, New Me

So i now live in a new city where i go to school in a new house with a new room mate. Today i was wandering over to the place where i got a job to see about me working and as i was wandering down the street i couldn't help but think about how so comfortable i felt there. I was thinking about how i can wander all around the city and feel comfortable. I know my way back and forth and how to find each place that matters to me. I'm slowly learning of the hidden places that only locals know.

As i was thinking this i kid you not a guy pulls over to the side of the road and asks me for directions to the local hospital. And i knew how to get there! Strange i know but this was a big deal for me. I actually knew enough of the area to give advice to someone. True i am not a local, but i am growing into one in a way.

The more time i spend there the more it becomes a part of me and i become a part of it. It soaks into me. This makes me think about a kind of spiritual theory i came up with months ago that combines spirituality and psychology.

See the brain functions like folding a piece of paper. The more it is folded in a specific way the easier it is to fold it that way again. The way the brain works is that the more a thought is thought the easier it is to think it again. The more actions are repeated the easier they are to do again. The more you practice a karate chop the easier it gets to do.

With walking places or spending time in an area the more it begins to fit into your mental space. The more time you spend somewhere the more comfortable you get with it. (this idea is expressed very well in the book The Name of the Wind)

This is what happens to me in the city i am living in, the more time i spend there the more it ingrains into me and the more i ingrain myself into it. It is like i leave pieces of myself each place i walk, which is part of my system of beliefs. It also joins with a notion i have heard of which is that the soul travels at the pace of a camel.

I've noticed it when i have taken the bus, versus when i walk and bike. When i take the bus it makes a place seem different, closer, less real. When i walk or bike it makes the city seem real, seem like a place where it all is connected, where i notice the little things and take the time to smell the flowers.

The bus or driving a car makes it seem to go by so much faster, it makes the world like a background constantly shifting. Its a different experiance that makes the world seem smaller. That takes away the connection i feel to the world. But the most interesting thing today was then when i got to the area close to my home in my hometown i recognized the trees, remembered every turn of the street, remembered everything.

I'm in the middle right now, I'm passing more of myself into my new city as i leave my hometown behind. I'm attaching myself to new places and people but in noticing this i am refusing to give up my past. One without the other is pointless. Joined by the present it is the two of them that make us all who we are. Leaving one out of yourself leaves you as half a person. Half a soul. Half a life...